Old castles on the cliffs arise, Proudly tow'ring in the skies; Rushing from the woods, the spires, Seem from hence ascending fires ! Half his beams Apollo sheds On the yellow mountain-heads! Gilds the fleeces of the flocks, And glitters on the broken rocks!
Below me trees unnumber'd rise, Beautiful in various dyes: The gloomy pine, the poplar blue, The yellow beech, the sable yew, The slender fir, that taper grows, The sturdy oak, with broad-spread boughs, And beyond, the purple grove, Haunt of Phillis, queen of love! Gaudy as the op'ning dawn, Lies a long and level lawn, On which a dark hill, steep and high, Holds and charms the wand'ring eye; Deep are his feet in Towy's flood, His sides are cloth'd with waving wood, And ancient towers crown his brow, That cast an awful look below; Whose ragged walls the ivy creeps, And with her arms from failing keeps; So both a safety from the wind On mutual dependence find.
'Tis now the raven's bleak abode; 'Tis now th' apartment of the toad; And their the fox securely feeds; And there the pois nous adder breeds, Conceal'd in ruins, moss and weeds: While, ever and anon, there falls Huge heaps of hoary moulder'd walls. Yet time has been, that lifts the low,
And level lays the lofty brow
Has seen this broken pile compleat, Big with the vanity of state; But transient is the smile of fate; A little rule, a little sway,
A sunbeam in a winter's day,
Is all the proud and mighty have Between the cradle and the grave.
And see the rivers how they run, Through woods and meads, in shade and sun, Sometimes swift, and sometimes slow, Wave succeeding wave, they go A various journey to the deep, Like human life to endless sleep! Thus is nature's vesture wrought, To instruct our wand'ring thought; Thus she dresses green and gay, To disperse our cares away.
Ever charming, ever new, When will the landskip tire the view! The fountain's fall, the river's flow, The woody vallies, warm and low; The windy summit, wild and high, Roughly rushing on the sky;
The pleasant seat, the ruin'd tow'r, The naked rock, the shady bow'r; The town and vlliage, dome and farm, Each give each a double charm, As pearls upon an Æthiop's arm
See on the mountain's southern side,
Where the prospect opens wide, Where the evening gilds the tide; How close and small the hedges lie ! What streaks of meadows cross the eye! A step-methink may pass the stream; So little distant dangers seem; So we mistake the future's face, Ey'd through hope's deluding glass;
As yon summits soft and fair, Clad in colours of the air,
Which to those who journey near, Barren, brown, and rough appear; Still we tread the same coarse way, The present's still a cloudy day.
O may I with myself agree, And never covet what I see! Content me with an humble shade, My passions tam'd, my wishes laid; For while our wishes wildly roll, We banish quiet from the soul; 'Tis thus the busy beat the air; And misers gather wealth and care. Now, ev'n now, my joys run high, As on the mountain turf I lie ; While the wanton Zephyr sings, And in the vale perfumes his wings; While the waters murmur deep; While the shepherd charms his sheep: While the birds unbounded fly, And with music fill the sky, Now, ev'n now, my joys run high. Be full, ye courts, be great who will, Search for Peace with all your skill Open wide the lofty door, Seek her on the marble floor, In vain you search, she is not there; In vain ye search the domes of care! Grass and flowers Quiet treads, On the meads and mountain-heads, Along with Pleasure, close ally'd, Ever by each other's side : And often, by the murm'ring rill, Hears the thrush, while all is still, Within the groves of Grongar Hill.
HYMN TO ADVERSITY.
DHUGHTER of Jove, relentless power,
Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tott'ring hour, The bad affright, afflict the best! Bound in the adamantine chain, The proud are taught to taste of pain, And purple tyrants vainly groan With pangs unfelt before, unpitied and alone.
When first thy sire to send on earth Virtue, his darling child, design'd, To thee he gave the heavily birth, And bade thee form her infant mind. Stern rugged nurse! thy rigid lore With patience many a year she bore : What sorrow was, thou bad'st her know, And from her own she learn'd to melt at others' woe.
Scar'd at thy frown terrific, fly
Self-pleasing Folly's idle brood, Wild Laughter, Noise, and thoughtless Joy, And leave us leisure to be good. Light they disperse, and with them go The summer Friend, the flatt'ring Foe;
By vain Prosperity receiv'd,
To her they vow their truth, and are again believ'd.
Wisdom in sable garb array'd, Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound, And melancholy, silent maid,
With leaden eye, that loves the ground,
Still on thy solemn steps attend : Warm Charity, the gen'ral friend, With Justice, to herself severe,
And pity, dropping soft the sadly pleasing tear,
Oh, gently on thy suppliant's head, Dread Goddess, lay thy chast'ning hand! Not in thy Gorgon terrors clad, Nor circled with the vengeful band (As by the impious thou art seen)
With thund'ring voice, and threat'ning mein, With screaming Horror's funeral cry, Despair, and fell disease, and ghastly Poverty.
Thy form benign, oh Goddess, wear,
Thy milder influence impart, Thy philosophic train be there
To soften, not to wound my heart. The gen'rous spark extinct revive, Teach me to love and to forgive,
Exact my own defects to scan,
What others are to feel, and know myself a man.
ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON
YE distant spires, ye antique towers,
That crown the watery glade, Where grateful Science still adores Her Henry's holy shade : And ye, that from the stately brow Of Windsor's height th' expanse below
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